Crafting and Grafting* for tech.ed Europe
Posted by eileenb on June 18, 2009
*Grafting is a term we use in the UK for working really hard 
It’s surprising how things morph into other things isn’t it? I’m reducing the amount of UK based stuff I’m doing as i go towards my Garden Leave on August 10th, yet I’ve been given an amazing opportunity that is taking up lots of my time at the moment. I’ve been asked to be the content owner at #techedEurope which is going to be in Berlin in November. Final details are still being worked out as to what type of role this will be (full time / contract etc) but for now I’m really busy with planning the event.
We start planning, as you can see, at least 6 months before each event. We need content ideas, experts to own each track, advisors, to connect the track owners to the corp speakers, liaisons to link up with EVERY product team to work out which major announcements we’ll be making, which exec speakers we can get over to do the keynote, whether we’ll launch any products there. We plan which Hands on Labs we’ll need (and how many), how many Instructor Led Labs we’ll be using, if at all, if we have any Birds of a Feather sessions, Demos in the main hall, and just about everything else you can think of. So it’s a really exciting opportunity for me to get my teeth into something I’m really passionate about and not to worry about what’s going to happen after my time at Microsoft ends.
So my first challenge is… The Keynote. So I’m asking you what you would like to see. I’m thinking about having an IT Pro focused keynote and a Developer Keynote later in the week, so to keep them separate.
Which speakers would you like at each keynote – and why? What demos would you like to see on stage? What products?
and if you’re not sure – what would your colleagues like to hear about on TechEd Online (if they can’t come to the Event in person). Leave a comment and I’ll start the discussions with the rest of the planning team. And mark the date when registration goes live. The cheapest tickets will be the first to go 
More later…
Nadia said
. nice post….. ^^
Kuruvi said
Thanks for sharing… Great blogging…
Simon Jones said
Eileen,
The very best keynote at TechEd Europe, I think it was in 2000, had the United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as the main speaker and she spoke about a project to give refugees instant identity documents using Pocket PCs, Laptops, portable printers and laminators.
Many people arriving at a refugee camp had no identity papers and this often made them stateless or non-persons in the eyes of the host country. This project gave them offical identity cards which they could use in the refugee camp and afterwards when they have been repatriated. She also talked of the problem of matching missing children to their parents, siblings or other family members.
At the end of the week there was a closing keynote in which it was announced that many developers attending the conference had been so inspired by the work of the UNHCR that they had given up their free time in the evenings during the week to work on an extension to the Identity software used by UNHCR. This extra functionality enabled the software to collect details of missing family members and match them up with later or earlier arrivals at that camp or indeed at other camps elsewhere. Thus mothers and fathers could learn that their missing children were alive and well and be taken to them.
Here were tales of software in action making a real difference to people in desparate need. Truly inspirational.
Regards,
Simon Jones
Contributing Editor
PC Pro Magazine
eileenb said
Simon,
that sounds like an amazing session – I wonder what on earth I can do to match that. I’m going to escalate it out to the broader teams and see whether we can find another great story that we can bring to Berlin and talk about.
Thank you so myuch for sharing…